STRATEGY

We are looking to raise awareness about wealth inequality and economic injustice in our country and show people why the Jubilee Amendment is a viable and good solution. The Internet technology affords an opportunity to bring about a national ballot initiative. It is time for democracy to re-assert itself and take a step foward in our country.

AFFILIATIONS: None. We are and will not become affiliated with any political party, political candidate or special interest group. Ours is a people's solution dependent upon people- not PAC's or similar groups. We refuse to use money, kickbacks, paybacks, favors etc. to promote our cause. If the people want our plan to happen they will make it happen.

PLAN OF ACTION: When considering our plan of action it must be remembered that ours is a people's revolution, so we look for participation. We have started to develop a core organizational group of experts (economists, constitutional lawyer, Internet person, and social services person) that can help refine and develop the Jubilee amendment further. But it is the people such as yourself that we need to make this thing happen, if it is going to happen.

WEB PAGE: Technology can empower us. The Internet will be our forum of communication and the facilitator in advocating the Jubilee amendment. It is the key to our success. To be a people's revolution we need to keep the people abreast of our progress and the Internet will serve this purpose.

Our web page will be the informational source for those impassioned about our cause. The Internet will be the backbone of our registration efforts. People will register to have the Jubilee amendment put on the ballot in their state directly via our web site. This would reduce the need for petitions. The Internet appears to fulfill the requirements for ballot initiatives as it is a secure means with authenticated email registrants. If the intent of the legislation on ballot initiatives is followed, then we are surely right. We need experts to help us with this because we anticipate a fight.

BALLOT INITIATIVES: Ballot initiatives began in the late nineteenth century with the populist movement as a way to combat the powerful money interests which controlled Washington politics. It is true grassroots democracy that gives the ordinary person the chance to set the political agenda. Unfortunately, the high costs of signature gathering and the powerful political sway of the wealthy special interests have been able to impede the progress of citizen legislators. That was then. The Internet technology can empower us and allow the voice of the common person to be heard.

For a further discussion of ballot initiatives please see ballot.org.

AMENDMENT PROCESS: The words 'We the People' begin the United States constitution. 'We the people' is the concept at the heart of the Jubilee Amendment. 'We the people' are proposing a national ballot initiative, the Jubilee amendment, as a one time corrective measure to rebalance wealth in the United States. The Internet can help us return power to the people by allowing online registration for ballot petitions and providing the technology that will allow us to hold a constitutional convention. It is our right to legislate laws that are in the interest of the majority to wrest control from the minority of: political action committees, special interest groups, lobbyists, among others, which currently control the government. 'We the people of the United States' created the constitution and government of the United States and have the right to change things as we see fit.



The declaration of independence establishes our right to create a more perfect and just union, correct wrongs and affect change to the benefit of all people:

'(W)henever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it; and to institute new Government, laying on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to affect their Safety and Happiness.'

Most Americans would claim that government is controlled by a powerful minority of special interest groups, PAC's and wealthy. The despair of voters over the government is reflected in low voter turnout and the low ratings of congress and other sectors of the government in opinion polls. Large wealth imbalances attest to the bias in government policies. The longest economic expansion masks the problem: Government is failing to serve the best interest of the majority of Americans.

The Internet allows us to institute new ways of responding to the Government that will better serve the majority of Americans. First, the Internet will reduce the high cost of ballot initiatives. A petition drive takes time and money, which has made it primarily a tool for the well funded. Secondly, by following the e business paradigm 'we the people' can begin squeezing the middle person: legislatures. 'We the people' can set the agenda. Already several states are or about to use the Internet for voting in primaries or in a general election. Further the Internet reduces one of the main negatives of petition drives; that people have no idea about the issue for which they are signing a petition. People registering for the Jubilee Amendment must actively come here to this web page themselves to register. Thirdly, by being able to set the agenda 'we the people' will make congress and the senate more responsive to us. The e business paradigm shows us that by going direct the buyer has more power and the middle person must change to survive. And although the poor and disenfranchised do not have adequate Internet exposure at this time, this can be remedied over time as 'we the people' evolve. Fourthly, the Internet holds forth the possibility of an online constitutional convention.

James Madison afforded the same right of we the people to protect ourselves from tyrannical government in the Federalist papers and said that it was of 'great importance in a republic not only to guard the society against the oppression of its rulers, but to guard one part of the society against the injustice of the other part'. Most of us think of the latter comment and of the protection of individual rights. But Madison was saying that government can become tyrannical and oppressive to the majority. Implicit in the Jubilee Amendment is the concept that a minority has benefited at the expense of the majority.

Twenty-four states have provisions for ballot initiatives. Ballot initiatives allow people to petition the state to have a proposed law be put on the ballot for vote. The ballot initiative allows them to circumvent legislatures and pass laws directly. The signature requirements vary between states. See table at the end listing the states.

Currently there is no national ballot initiative law. In 1977 there was an attempt to have a constitutional amendment allowing for a national ballot initiative. There have been several attempts at national ballot initiatives. The most notable was the Ludlow amendment in the 1930's, which required a national referendum before war could be declared.

Akhil Reed Amar and Alan Hirsch in For the People: What the Constitution Really Says About Your Rights brilliantly point out that we must look at the whole of the constitution not just focus on its individual parts.

Amar and Hirsch begin their case by examining article V of the Constitution that sets forth two procedures for amending the constitution: "The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments which, in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as Part of the Constitution, when ratified by the legislatures of three fourths of the several States, or by conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the Congress." Amar and Hirsch argue that although Article V outlines how the constitution can be amended it does not state that the methods prescribed in Article V are the only ways to amend the constitution.

They go on to say;" But when we the People gave the organs of government the power to amend the Constitution via Article V, we did not deprive ourselves of our independent right to amend the Constitution. Indeed, this right is inalienable-meaning it CANNOT be given up or waived-and was so recognized as a first principle by Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence and by Madison at the Constitutional Convention. The THE FEDERALIST PAPERS, the Founders' fullest explication of the of the Constitution's meaning, makes several references to this first principle. For example, in FEDERALIST 78, Alexander Hamilton alludes to "that fundamental principle of republican government which admits the right of the people to alter or abolish the established Constitution whenever they find it inconsistent with their happiness."(Page 8)

Amar and Hirsch also point out that; "The Constitution empowers and limits government; it neither empowers nor limits the People. Rather, the Constitution is predicated on the People's preexisting power. As the Declaration of Independence made clear, such power derives from the inalienable right of the People to alter and abolish their government. Even if the People wished to give up this right in 1787, they certainly could not give it up for future generations." (Page 9)

They point out several other reasons why we the people have the right to change the constitution. One of their arguments looks at the Bill of Rights: "If the original Constitution leaves any doubt on this point, the Bill of Rights goes a long way towards removing it. Five separate amendments speak of rights and powers of 'the People', and three of them implicitly evoke the right of direct amendment by the People." (Page 12)

The Internet technology was not available when the constitution was crafted. Technology, the industrial revolution and globalization in particular have dramatically altered our lives in the last 200 plus years. Yet government has remained impervious to change. 'We the people' should be able to use technology to empower us and downsize government. Globalization, downsizing, technological advancement and other processes has drastically and often detrimentally altered the lives of many Americans. Why should government be immune to these forces? Particularly if the government is suppose to be representative of the people. The constitution affords us this right; it is in our hands. James Wilson first author of the preamble and one of six people to sign both the constitution and the declaration of Independence said that the constitution's 'leading principle' is that 'the supreme power resides in the people'.

'We the people' feel that the time is ripe for a national ballots initiative to amendment the constitution. The Internet has provided us with a new technology to empower us at a time when government is failing to serve the best interests of the majority of Americans.
'We the people' have the right to advance the national ballot initiative the Jubilee Amendment. Please go to the registration page and register now.

States which allow initiatives: The signature requirements are on average 8% of the total votes cast at the last gubernatorial election, or some other state wide election. Alaska
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Colorado
District of Columbia
Florida
Idaho
Illinois
Maine
Massachusetts
Michigan
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada
North Dakota
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
South Dakota
Utah
Washington
Wyoming





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